It used to be that he sung the praises of Dartmouth's uniquely tight-knit feel on those crucial student recruitment tours. But since the administration's pledge to revamp social and residential life triggered a campus uproar, Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Karl Furstenberg sings to a slightly different tune now when he discusses Hanover's social options.
"I've always talked about our community and about students' experiences," he said. "I now say that Dartmouth is in the process of change, and why don't you come and be part of that change."
The difference is crucial, if only for its subtlety.
On the one hand, Furstenberg's move demonstrates the Initiative's resolve to change Dartmouth's identity through admissions. On the other hand, the difference shows that not all that much has changed after all.
While Furstenberg believes the shift in emphasis is "important because the type of student we want to attract is energetic and involved," his actions illustrate a slight hesitancy to change his office's message too drastically. Mention of the Initiative gets stuffed into the middle of his presentation to high schools -- after he has made his crucial first impression but before he winds up with the summary.
If part of the impetus behind the Initiative was to attract more "high-ability" students, as was said in last year's Steering Committee Report, that goal seems not to have been met. The year before the Initiative was announced, the SAT verbal mean of the incoming class was 720. For the Class of 2005, that number is 713.
Still, it would be misleading to say that the Initiative has had a negative influence on the quality of Dartmouth students. This year's decline in applicants came exclusively from men. The female pool did not shrink.
"It may be that the SLI shook some people out of the applicant pool that maybe we didn't want to be there," said Furstenberg. "I think maybe students who are attracted to what Dartmouth used to be are now less likely to apply. Meanwhile, students who are attracted to where Dartmouth is going are more likely to apply. We're in a transition now."
And so Dartmouth's admissions process continues much the same as it has for years. Just as the implementation of the Initiative has teetered along a painfully slow path, so has the Initiative had a barely-there influence on student recruitment.
Not a single publication that comes out of the admissions office mentions the Initiative. Leaders of tour groups rarely bring up the controversy in detail. And the criteria for admitting students hasn't changed in any public way.
That is not to say that the admissions office avoids addressing the Initiative. Officers are instructed to discuss the topic in an open and dispassionate way when prospective students ask about it. Dartmouth's website includes information on the Initiative, as does literature from the Dean's office.
What does seem to be changing behind the veil of the admissions process is informal communication with prospective students about Initiative-related issues.
"On the student life issues, these students will have different expectations," said Furstenberg. "We try to give people a sense of the character and community here, then we talk about the SLI as a comprehensive way to offer a variety of programs."
Prospectives continue to voice concern over Dartmouth's famous fraternity system. Location and student life are the two most frequently cited reasons why admitted students decline enrollment at Dartmouth. That they rarely inquire specifically about the Initiative, a pattern observed by people in the office, may simply mean that prospectives don't follow College events.
"What seems like incredibly big news to the Dartmouth campus isn't known by everyone," said Cindy Oberto '01, who has worked in the admissions office as an interviewer. "The Initiative was something we considered an incredibly big deal, but it wasn't for everyone."
